


Lend A Hand

by EmmaArthur



Series: Found Family Prompt Fills [1]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: AND IT IS, But it made my beta cry, Family, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Jesse Manes is a War Crime, Kid Alex, Kid Maria, but he's not actually in this fic, it was supposed to be cute, so you're warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-19 00:15:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22202155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmaArthur/pseuds/EmmaArthur
Summary: Kid!Alex has a sleepover at the DeLucas', and discover new things about friendship and family.
Relationships: Alex Manes & Mimi DeLuca, Maria DeLuca & Alex Manes
Series: Found Family Prompt Fills [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1598179
Comments: 16
Kudos: 36





	Lend A Hand

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fill for a prompt I got a while ago on Tumblr from [angsty-aliens](https://angsty-aliens.tumblr.com/): _Alex centric kindness prompt? Alex is in elementary school when he becomes friends with Maria Deluca. He didn’t realize that friendship would also come with Mama Deluca. (Maybe Alex spends the night and is shocked that some parents sing their kids lullabies, and kiss their foreheads at bedtime and he’s even more shocked when he’s included in this ritual.)_
> 
> [InsidiousIntent](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsidiousIntent) was my amazing beta for this fic, and screamed at me for making her cry. Then she was insistent that I make you suffer the same, so here it is :) The title is her suggestion as well, from an eponymous [poem](https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lend-a-hand-5/) by Anonymous.
> 
> [implied abuse]

"Alex, we're having a sleepover!" Maria greets Alex enthusiastically when he finds her in the little corner of the school grounds.

"A sleepover?" Alex frowns. He's never had one, except if you count sleeping on the floor of the Valenti cabin with his brothers and Kyle.

"Mama phoned your Dad and he said yes!"

"Really?" Alex asks, awed. Maria has been talking about inviting him to her home for her birthday for weeks, but he didn't think Dad would ever agree.

Maria nods enthusiastically and hugs him, dragging them both into a little dance.

Alex is still getting used to how tactile his friend can be. He's never met someone like Maria before. He just followed Kyle everywhere, on the first day of school, afraid  o f losing sight of the only other  person he knew, and Maria came and jumped on Kyle from behind, nearly making them both stumble to the floor. She then proceeded to solemnly introduce herself to Alex, explaining that her Mama knew Kyle's Daddy and since Kyle's Daddy knew Alex's Dad, that meant they were all friends. Alex didn't think that was quite how it was supposed to work, but he didn't protest when she took his hand at the next lineup.

The three of them have been friends ever since, though Kyle is the only one who is also friends with most of their class. Alex tends to keep to himself, and Maria seems to be a bit too  much for  most of the other children.

"It will be after my birthday party on Saturday," Maria says when they stop dancing. "You'll stay all night and Mama will drive you back in the morning."

Alex smiles in response to her enthusiasm. The idea is a little daunting, but he wants to be as good a friend to Maria as she is to him. And her Mama seems nice, when she comes to pick up Maria after school.

He carefully prepares a small overnight bag on Saturday, with Flint's help for once, and puts his gift to Maria inside. It's a wind chime he made himself, with colorful beads his mother left behind and a shell he picked up at the beach last summer. He traded a whole week of taking out the trash so Harlan could help him drill a hole in the shell, then threaded a piece of yellow string through the beads, with careful knots at both ends. Maria loves yellow.

M rs Valenti picks him up and drives him and Kyle over to Maria's house. Maria hugs them both enthusiastically, before introducing Alex to her mother between giggles.

“I've heard a lot about you, Alex,” the bright-eyed woman says with a smile. She's warm and gentle, and she wears a lot of jewelry that moves with her and shines. Alex likes her, though he feels a little intimidated.

“It's an honor to meet you, ma'am,” he says with a trembling voice, trying his best to channel his father.

“Oh, don't call me ma'am! Mimi is fine,” the woman laughs.

Alex calls her ma'am again five times during the day, and she corrects him every time until he shyly tries to call her Mimi. When he does, she gives him a bright smile and a hug.

Alex freezes in place until she lets him go and hides in Maria's bedroom for half-an-hour.

Alex and Kyle are the only boys at the party, but Alex doesn't mind. The three girls Maria invited are all nice and polite, and their mothers distant. For once, Kyle is the one tagging along with Alex, a bit shy around girls. Maria jumps up and down and runs around a lot, and dances with everyone she gets her hands onto. She blows her candles in one sweep and ends up with a lot of chocolate on her face.

Alex carefully eats his cake with his spoon and decides it's the best cake he's ever tasted.

He watches Maria open her gifts, which are all store-bought pink dolls and miniature kitchen pans, until she gets to his. It looks so sloppy beside the others, because he wrapped it himself, and he's suddenly terrified that Maria isn't going to like it. He wants to run, to escape this room with too many people in it, but he's stuck at the table beside Kyle and he can't move. He doesn't even feel the tears running down his face until Maria looks up from tearing off the wrapping paper.

“Why are you crying?” she asks, tilting her head.

Alex shakes his head and sniffles. The other children stare at the two of them for a moment, then collectively decide that since Maria has finished opening her gifts, it's time to go play. In a few seconds, they're alone at the table.

Maria catches Mimi's eyes, then she jumps off her chair, grabs Alex's hand and drags him to her bedroom. Alex follows reflexively, used to Maria taking the initiative.

“What's wrong?” Maria asks Alex, sitting him down on the bed.

“You−you don't like my gift,” Alex stammers, still crying. He hates how easily he cries. It makes him weak. His brothers don't ever cry, except Flint when Mom left, but that was over a year ago.

Maria holds out her hand, holding the little wind chime tightly.

“Of course I like it!” she says, sounding offended. “There's yellow beads! Did you make it yourself?”

Alex nods, relieved. He wipes his face with his sleeve.

“It's beautiful, Alex,” a soft voice says from behind him. Alex turns to see Mimi leaning on the door frame. “Do you want to hang it now?”

“Yes!” Maria jumps to her feet. “At the window!”

Mimi must be a nice mother to have, Alex thinks, as he watches her lift Maria up so she can hang the chime from the window handle. He doesn't remember if Mom ever hugged him like that, only that her hands and her eyes were almost as dark as Mimi's.

“Look, Alex!” Maria points at the chime. “It's the same color as my shirt!”

Alex is crying again. He doesn't even know why, but he doesn't like it.

“I think Alex is getting a little overwhelmed,” Mimi says. “How about you stay in here for a bit, darling?”

Alex nods. He doesn't want to go back to the other children. There's too much noise and too many people.

“I wanna stay too,” Maria says.

Mimi crouches down. “Maria, you can't leave your guests alone for too long, but how about this: you let Alex calm down in here while you play with your friends a little more, and then we say goodbye to everyone and you can come back.”

“Okay,” Maria nods after thinking about it for a bit. “Is it okay, Alex?”

“Okay,” Alex sniffles.

Maria rummages through her b ookcase and comes back with a book. “Here!” she hands it to Alex. “So you have something to do!”

Then she runs back to the living room.

“Don't worry, little man,” Mimi says. “We'll be back soon, alright?”

Alex nods and smiles a little. He doesn't mind staying behind. Maria's room is very nice and it smells good, and he's used to being alone.

Later that night, a fter the other children and their parents are gone and they've eaten dinner,  Maria and Mimi lay out a little mattress for Alex on the floor of Maria's room. Mimi then sits down on the bed with a book she pulls out of the top shelf, with a picture of a dragon on the cover.

“Bilbo?” Maria asks, excitedly jumping onto the bed.

“We can start back at the beginning so Alex isn't lost,” Mimi answers.

Alex watches them curiously as Maria curls under Mimi's arm.

“Alex, baby, come here,” Mimi pats the space on her other side.

Alex's eyes widen. "Me?"

“Of course,” Mimi says warmly. “Unless you don't want to, that's okay too.”

“I can read,” Alex frowns.

“Then we can all take turns.”

“Come on, Alex, it's a good book!” Maria says. “You'll like it.”

Carefully, Alex climbs onto the bed. He holds himself just out of reach of Mimi's free arm, and she doesn't insist on pulling him closer.

The book is a grown-up book, with very few pictures. The text swims in front of Alex when he tries to make sense of it. He's not the best at reading at school. It's hard, and Flint doesn't want to help him like he used to anymore, now that he's started middle school. Mom taught all of his older brothers before they started school, but Alex was too small when she left, so he had to teach himself.

Mimi starts reading, sliding her finger along the page to show them the words, but Alex can't focus on the story. He's too aware of how close he is to Mimi's body, how warm she is. Maria is staring at him over the book instead of following along. Alex stares back, and she frowns a little before she starts giggling.

“Maria?” Mimi asks.

“Alex is happy,” Maria says between bouts of laughing.

“Yes, darling. I can feel it too.”

Alex looks up at Mimi. “Really?” he asks. Is that what happy feels like?

Mimi nods and smiles at him. “Do you want to take a turn at reading?”

Alex struggles with the too long words, so he only reads two sentences before Maria, who is more practiced than him and already knows the story, takes over.

When he slides under the blanket on the mattress a little later, already half asleep, his head is full of dwarves and houses with round doors and adventure. He watches Mimi kiss the top of Maria's head before tucking her in, and waits for her to leave.

Instead, Mimi bends down again and places a gentle kiss on Alex's forehead.

He hopes she doesn't see the tear on his cheek before shuts the light off.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments make me warm inside. Even if you want to scream at me.
> 
> This is one of three prompts I received on the same day, and although I am very slow filling them, they will be posted as a series here, and on my [Tumblr.](https://emma-arthur.tumblr.com/)


End file.
